Chagas disease, transmitted by injection of Trypanosoma cruzi through the bite of an insect vector, is designated as the most important emerging disease in developed countries, with approximately 16-18 million cases of infection in Latin America with 120 million people (˜25% of the population) more at risk of infection (Organization, W. H. (2010) Chagas disease: control and elimination, In Report of the secretariat. WHO, Geneva, UNDP/World Bank/WHO). In 30-40% of the infected individuals, the disease may progress to irreversible cardiomyopathy after many years, with infected individuals serving as carriers of the organism and exhibiting considerable morbidity and high risk of mortality (Machado et al. (2012) Front Biosci (Elite Ed) 4, 1743-58). Unfortunately, there are no vaccines or safe drugs—benznidazole and nifurtimox can be used for treatment of acute infection, but have high toxicity in adults and are ineffective in arresting or reversing the progression of the disease—and as a consequence, the NIH and CDC have recognized Chagas disease as a neglected emergency (Bern and Montgomery, (2009) Clin Infect Dis 49, e52-54; CDC. (2006) Chagas disease after organ transplantation—Los Angeles, Calif., 2006, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 55, 798-800; CDC. (2007) Blood donor screening for chagas disease—United States, 2006-2007, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 56, 141-143).
Thus, there remains a need for additional compositions and methods for identifying subjects harboring Trypanosomes and particularly those subjects at risk of developing cardiomyopathy.